Kick-Ass 2 Hit Girl

Link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/video/v2258947121001/kick-ass-2-hit-girl-soft-trailer.html

Animation - Shrek

Shrek

How many intertextual references can you spot in this clip?

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-YKg6EHEY


A little help:
Hansel & Gretel
Red Riding Hood
Cinderella
The Little Mermaid
The Lord of the Rings
Spiderman
Peter Pan

No wonder it was voted DreamWorks' best - there's not a second to get bored

Tarantino's Inglourious

Extract Analysis

Inglourious Basterds - Chapter Five

The Revenge of the Giant Face

(01:41:04 - 01:45:00)

 

Overview

   My chosen film is Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino. It is a remake of the 1978 Italian comedy-drama war film Inglorious Bastards by Enzo G. Castellari. However, apart from the title plot had been slightly changed as well and might not be as violent as the majority of Tarantino’s work.

  The movie is divided in 5 chapters. The first four is an introduction of the numerous characters such as the team of the Basterds, Shosanna, Colonel Landa and the “Bear Jew”. In the last chapter these storylines run together towards the end, in which the whole Nazi leadership is going to explode. The irony of the ending is that the audience knows it wasn't the historical way Hitler died.

At the beginning of the film there was a young Jewish girl, Shosanna, who was hiding

Inglourious Basterds DVD cover

underneath the floor of the house (which was almost as poorly equipped as a barn is) of a French farmer to avoid the tragic meeting with the dreaded "Jew Hunter". Although she had to witness the brutal murderer of her entire family, she escaped.

Later on we see her again in Paris. By then she grew a young, independent woman, who runs a small cinema in the capital of France during the Nazi invasion. As a coincidence she is forced to face again the person who killed her family. On the same day she has to accept a request to arrange a premiere for a "heroic" German film. With Hitler and the Nazi leaders on her guest list she decided to make fireworks from the film stocks she owned and blow up the whole cinema. The Nazis didn't even suspect that they have put their lives in the hands of a Jewish girl and her black lover Marcel both ready for revenge.

   On the other hand she doesn’t realize either that she isn't the only one considering a suicidal movement, but the special team Inglorious Basterds have plans as well for the same night.

The sequence

   The sequence takes place in the opening of Chapter 5, however it is still a prelude of the final attraction. There is one main scene in the sequence, in which she's getting dressed for the night of the film premiere mentioned above and prepares her make-up. It finishes with the moments when she puts a gun in her purse then walks out to the hall to greet the guests. The sequence also includes six flashbacks, which explain more about her plan and the way she made a short film – exclusively for Nazis.

The female Indian fighter

     This particular sequence made an impact on me because of its strong female character. The way she is represented is tragic and humorous at the same time: the beautiful young woman preparing for the night at her dressing table and the flashbacks, which extend our knowledge about her and make the audience realize that in fact she is preparing for her own death. The irony of the situation is strengthened by a metaphorical image - she paints her face as an Indian fighter. It is also a reference to a certain part of American history, when the natives had to fight against European invaders, which connotes the hopelessness of the challenge as well as the invincible pride of the character. It also resembles to the proud French nation’s attempt to avoid the German conquest, as well as .

  The sequence doesn't contain many dialogues, but those ones in it are in French with English subtitles in order to give a stronger sense of place for the audience. The visual cinematic aspects (such as mise-en-scene) help to establish the era and create an atmosphere, while other elements (such as music) have different relevance and they rather try to refer to other movies or famous people.

Mise-en-scene 

   The main scene is in Shosanna's dressing room. The first, establishing shot shows her sitting at a large, round window in the middle of the room. She's wearing a formal red dress looking outside. The sunlight glows on her, the rest of the room is slightly darker. The subtitle (Night of "Nation's Pride" premiere) helps the audience to place the scene in the timeline of the film. Previously it has been explained "Nation's Pride" is the reason the Nazis are going to cinema, therefore it is the night she is going to kill or die (or both). The picture is slowly closing up to her face using long fade transitions between shots, which creates a sense of superimposition. Historically this technique was employed to picture ghosts in early films in the 19^th century, so it can symbolize her ghostly being, her fading away, dying.

   Although the story itself is partly fictional, most of the elements are based on truth or aim to give us the feel of a real historical background, which turns into comedy from time to time. At the same time when the picture closes up to her we've got a clearer view to the window and have a chance to peep outside: on the opposite wall there is a poster, the buildings on the street are covered with Nazi flags. These small details indicate the era, both in style and quality are part of a realistic setting.

Flashbacks

  Throughout the whole sequence each change of shot is rhythmically harmonized with the lyrical lines of the song. At the flashbacks the volume has been reduced and the vocals have been muted in order to make the dialogues audible. At the final part of the sequence the backing vocals are relatively strong comparing to the modest use of music in the previous scenes.  Because of the reduced amount of dialogues the music helps to keep the sequence together.

   The instrumental intro of the song begins when the subtitles (Chapter Five - The Revenge of the Giant Face) appear on the black screen. The lyrics start when we see the first image and each line is synchronized with the change of shots. The song Cat People (Putting Out Fire) by David Bowie (who wrote the lyrics and sings the lead vocals as well) had been already used in the history of film. It was the theme music of the American remake of 1942 film 'Cat People' about a female were-cat (played by Nastassja Kinski) released in 1982.

   The flashbacks are all in different locations, but we assume they are all in Paris or nearby (the dialogues are in French). The continuous shot-reverse shot pattern, the frequent use of close-ups and the informal dialogues between the characters suggest that the first three flash backs are in Shosanna and Marcel's home, which is inside or close to the cinema, as the film stocks around them indicate that.

Marcel and Shosanna

   Judging by the lighting the fourth one is in a dungeon, maybe in another cinema. This scene reflects the determination of the two young people who weren't afraid to use violence in order to fulfill their revenge.

In particular the fifth and sixth flashbacks belong together, because they are both about Shosanna working in the operating room and editing her short film, but they are divided by a short part of the main scene.

  The flashbacks are clearly separated from the sequence by the use of different location, darker or fainted lighting and the costumes, which are in oppositional with Shosanna's formal red dress she wears in the "make-up scene". The montage editing gives the impression that this is an action film, the mixture of beauty and danger in the main character is even reminiscent of the conventions of James Bond movies.

Costume and make-up

  The wild red and strong black rule the whole mise-en-scene: the red dress, the Nazi flags, her make-up (from the eyeliner through the blush to the lipstick), red nails, the crimson wall, her black hat and later on the blood red purse with a black gun inside of it. Culturally these colours symbolize the Devil, the evil, which could apply for the enemies, the Nazis, but together they also have associations of danger or something forbidden.

 They even appear in the lyrics of the song accompanied by images of a "jungle" and the plosive sounds of "burning bright", which both could associate with a wild fire. The lyrics in the chorus "I've been putting out fire with gasoline" continue adding some visualization to create a sense of aggression and sex. The lyrics also contain images of fire, danger, green eyes and tears (all these elements can be found in the mise-en-scene).

Shosanna's makeup scene

  The elegant red dress in the middle of the setting, clearly separated from the rest of the dark, dull room, leads the attention to the character. The pretty dress emphasizes her beauty and (referring to Cat People) shows how attractive and sexually appealing she is. Other connotations of the colour red are life, happiness, youth but also blood, fight and war.

   Her black hat with a netting veil lowered in front of her eyes is part of the realist setting as one of the characteristic accessories of the 1940s fashion, but it is also connected to death, being an unmissable part of female clothing on funerals.

Greeting the Nazis in her own cinema

Word count: 1535

Christopher Nolan's "Signature"

Small Scale Research Project

Presentation Script

Slide 1

Title

Christopher Nolan's ‘signature’

Slide 2

Presenter:

Focus Film: Inception (2010)

Related Films: Memento (2000) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Slide 3

Presenter:

Director as Author

It is hard to consider him creating a brand of movie which is clearly identifiable - as on the case of other filmmakers such as Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino - , however, there are some elements, which combine to create recognisable filmic fingerprint. Such as:

• All of his films contain a major reference to the film prior to it.

Image: poster of The Dark Knight and Inception [14]

• Often uses the same crew, employs the best of British and international talent. [12] Most frequently: Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard.

Slide 4

Presenter:

Focus Film - Inception (2010)

Image: DVD cover of Inception [15]

Synopsis

Cobb and his crew has the power to enter and manipulate people’s minds. The Asian multimillionaire Saito sends them on a mission which would save his company and reward the team generously. But Cobb cannot let go of the past. The pain he feels over the loss of his wife and children endangers his friends’ lives who join in to the ride into his subconscious not knowing what to expect.

Related Films

Memento (2000)

Image: DVD cover of Memento [16]

Synopsis

Leonard has lost everything in one the day. His wife was killed in their own home and due to a head injury he cannot make new memories for any longer than a few minutes. Unable to forget the past he tries to take revenge on the murderer of his wife. But how much can he rely on notes, photographs and tattoos? The bartender Natalie seems to help him, but in fact she has her own selfish reasons as everyone else.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Image: DVD cover of The Dark Knight Rises [17]

Synopsis

After defeating the Joker, Batman is lonelier than ever - he is chased by the police and his former fans. His love Rachel died, but he doesn’t know that earlier she chose somebody else instead of him. The appearance of a new mysterious villain, Bane and the forming anarchist plot against authority in the city calls for a real hero. It is the time when Bruce Wayne needs Batman to emerge from the ashes. There always are helpers, such as the Catwoman but that who can be trusted is questionable.

Slide 5

Presenter:

Narrative techniques + narrator

• [12] Employs non-linear storytelling techniques, often flipping around the three acts of a movie to tell the story in an interesting fashion (eg.: Memento) or includes a number of flashbacks (e.g.: Inception)

Video clip: Memento opening sequence

• [10] Combines Hollywood conventions with labyrinthine narrative structures
• Characters who are unreliable narrators

Editing

• Crosscutting several scenes of parallel action to build climax [13]
  
  
  

  
  
  

Video clip: Inception gravity fight

• Frequently uses hard cuts when transitioning to the next scenes.
  (This is most prominent in his films from 'Batman Begins' onward, especially in 'The Dark Knight', where, in some instances, the hard cuts he uses will go as far as to nearly cut off character's lines in order to quickly and efficiently get to the next scene.)

Slide 6

Presenter:

Dreams & Memories

Dreams and Memories have a crucial role in his stories.

Recurring theme of blurring reality with imagination/ hallucinations.

• In Inception, Cobb can't get over the loss of his wife, which he has caused unintentionally.

Video clip: Inception - Cobb reveals the truth to Ariadne in the limbo

• [4] In Memento, Leonard keeps talking about Sammy Jenkis and the death of his diabetic wife, when, in fact, it was his own story
• [6] In Batman, Bruce feels guilty over the loss of his parents, because if he wasn't afraid of bats they wouldn't have left the theatre and they wouldn't have been shot in the alley.

[4] Recurring theme of deception and self-deception

• In Inception, Cobb creates a realistic projection of his dead wife to re-experience the time they have spent together
• In Memento, Leonard ‘creates a puzzle he can never solve’. Because he can’t rely on his own memories he draws plausible but deceitful connotations between data based on his notes.
• In The Dark Knight Rises, Batman is chased by the police for murdering the city hero Harvey Dent, who in fact was the crazy killer, Two-Face.

Slide 7

Presenter:

Characters - The Protagonist

• [13] His protagonists will often resort to tactics of physical or psychological torture to gain information (ABJECT) [12]
• Lonely troubled protagonists who are unwillingly forced to hide their true identity from the world.[7]
• The hero often chooses the world of lies, dreams or fantasy instead of the pain to accept reality. ‘The trick is that we want to be fooled.’

His films usually revolve around characters that are afflicted with some kind of psychological disorder. (phobia, dual personality, insomnia etc.)

• In Inception, Cobb loses the ability to distinguish dreams from reality.
• In Memento, Leonard has his 'conditioning', a memory problem.
• In Batman, Bruce Wayne suffers from bat-phobia since his childhood accident.

Slide 8

Presenter:

Characters - The Antagonist

• [12] Villains in his films often threaten to harm the Hero's friends or family rather than the hero himself.

• The villains often reflect the hero's mistakes and humiliate them in public. [10] They mirror and question the hero. They are ‘really getting under his skin’.

• The villains often try to achieve an inversion of society. For example, The Dark Knight Rises’  villain, Bane was largely based on figures of the Russian Revolution and films such as Dr Zhivago [10]
• [12] His Antagonists are often motivated by a philosophical belief rather than Money
  eg.: in The Dark Knight Trilogy - The Joker, Bane, Talia

Video clip: The Dark Knight Rises climactic sequence - Talia reveals the truth

The villain and the hero can be the same person.

• In Inception, Mal is only a projection reflecting Cobb’s own sense of guilt.

Slide 9

Presenter:

Noir Elements - Femmes Fatales

In the traditional sense, femme fatale is part of the conventions of film noir. It is a powerful female character, who is portrayed as a sexual beauty, therefore easy to fall in love with, but only causes trouble for the hero.

Image: Marion Cotillard [18]

Mal (Inception, 2010)

Meaning of the name: the French noun 'mal' means evil, sickness, trouble, ache and death. The fact that it's the name of the main character's wife, symbolises the danger of being close to her. Her beauty is in contrast with her inner (rather negative) qualities and the suppressed feelings she holds such as her incredible rage and pain.

Image: Anne Hathaway [19]

Catwoman (The Dark Knight Rises, 2012)

The story of Catwoman never clarifies her true nature: sometimes she's a thief, sometimes she saves the day. Undoubtedly an ideal partner for Batman, who himself had trouble with the police and the expectations of the public.

Image: Carrie-Anne Moss [20]

Natalie (Memento, 2000)

A girlfriend of a drug dealer who takes advantage of Leonard’s condition to manipulate him into serving their own ends. [4]

Slide 10

Presenter:

Noir Elements -

Setting & Themes

[6] Christopher Nolan is a Noir fan himself, and he deliberately uses elements from the ‘60s cinematic scene.

• Most of his films are set in an urban area.
  
  

Image: Inception teaser poster [21]

• The hero is often a detective or a person who is searching for something. [8]
• Tensity, countdown nature of storyline.
• The element of fear: today’s America is most afraid of terrorism and chaos.

Often there is a young, inexperienced character who is being introduced to the scenario and we follow the story from his/her perspective.

• eg.: Ariadne in Inception
• Robin in The Dark Knight Rises

Binary opposites:

• Strong conflict between the wealthy and the poor (see The Dark Knight Rises)

• The lives of the happy and the troubled (see Inception and Memento).

All of these are apparent in Christopher Nolan’s work.

Slide 11

Presenter:

Audience Response

Web.

Christopher Nolan, as most of today’s filmmakers, puts a strong emphasis on being in connection with the fans, making the stories almost ‘interactive’. The portals are open on several social networking sites and blogs. E.g.: The visualisation of the character of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was almost entirely based on fans’ drawings and ideas.

[1] His labyrinthine narratives have made mainstream cinema more popular among fans of the indie. And it is true the other way as well: mass audiences finally have a chance to see more complicated stories and philosophical ideas.

Question of originality.

According to Ien Ang [3] we are ‘living in a world of schizophrenically fragmented instants’ in a ’bricolage’ of information. We constantly recycle the mediated past, such as Edith Piaf’s song ‘Je ne regrette rien’ in Inception. These are references to pop culture rather than simply stealing ideas and inevitable in the process of making emotional connections with the audience.

Moral Panics.

Critical appreciation is not everything a filmmaker can get. After the infamous Aurora massacre, Christopher Nolan had been accused of being ‘irresponsible’. [2] Viewers claimed that making villains sexually attractive, such as The Joker played by Heath Ledger, influences young consumers to identify with their socially distorted ideas. In the past there were many films facing the same criticisms such as Fight Club, Child’s Play and Clockwork Orange. However, in most people’s view, one bad example doesn’t prove that the whole media is wrong. [1]

Slide 12

Presenter:

Endings

• His endings have a recurring theme of justified dishonesty.
• Typically ends his films with a character giving a philosophical monologue [7, 8, 12]
• [12] Often ends his films with a jump cut to black and displays the title before the end credits.
• Ends almost every time with the characters fate open to interpretation.

Video clip: Inception ending sequence

Most endings are beginnings. After the turbulences Batman has caused, we can assume that the story Superman in Man of Steel (2013) will be more reassuring and offer more hope to the audience. [1 & 2]

Image: poster of Man of Steel [23]

Annotated Catalogue

Books & Magazines:

Item 1:  McCLINTOCK, P. ( 2012). How Going to the Movies Will Change.The Hollywood Reporter. (Aug. 3, 2012), page 45- an account on the effect of the Aurora massacre on the screening of The Dark Knight Rises in the USA. New regulations and security rules have been issued in most parts of the US.

Item 2: McCARTHY, T. (2012). The Dangers of Film’s Dark Side.The Hollywood Reporter (Aug. 3), page 47 - questioning whether or not mass media influences young viewers to act aggressively

Item 3: ANG, I. (1996) Living Room Wars: Rethinking Media Audiences for a Postmodern World. Oxon: Routledge

- he suggests that the behaviour of today’s audiences changes as much as the form of the programmes

Item 4: TISO, G.(2006) Impossible Recollections The Troubled Imaginary of Mediated Memory [Online] Victoria University of Wellington
Available at: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/gtiso/impossible_recollections.pdf

- A long and detailed analysis of films concerned with psychology and the human mind. I found some very interesting points made through critical approaches in key sequences of Memento.

Visual Resources

Item 5: Charlie Rose - interview with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale on Batman Begins, 2005 (Also available on YouTube)

- Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale explain how they created the new gritty hero from the classic comic-book character Batman.

Item 6: THE CULTURE SHOW (Aug, 2012) Interview with Christopher Nolan  (Also available on YouTube)

- The interview was made before the Aurora massacre, therefore there is no sign of any sense of responsibility for any negative influence the director might have done. To the contrary, he talks about his intent of sending a positive message to the audience through a hero who is able to rise up again and get over his weaknesses.

Item 7: THE PRESTIGE. (2006) Directed by Christopher Nolan. [DVD]. Los Angeles, Warner Brothers

- Employs the actors Christian Bale and Michael Caine, who both played in the Batman Trilogy. Helped me to discover additional recurring features in his films.

Item 8: INSOMNIA. (2002) Directed by Christopher Nolan [DVD]. Los Angeles/ Quebec, Warner Brothers.

- An earlier film by the director, which was a remake of a Swedish production of the same title. To reestablish the natural environment in American land, they transported the story to Alaska. The story serves as additional evidence for the director’s deep interest in psychology.

Item 9: MEMENTO. (2000) Directed by Christopher Nolan [DVD]. Los Angeles, 20th Century Fox. Bonus Feature The Independent Focus interview with Christopher Nolan, host Elvis Mitchell

- The conversation explores the filmmakers intentions and the immediate audience response concerning Memento. The director also talks about his relationship with his brother, Jonathan Nolan, who is the writer of the novel Memento Mori and the founder of the fan website irom otnemem. (which is the title, Memento Mori backwards)

Audio Resources

Item 10: THE TREATMENT. (2010) Host: Elvis Mitchell. Interviews with Christopher Nolan on Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. (Available at: www.kcrw.com and on YouTube)
- *KCRW: Southern California’s leading National Public Radio and the community service of Santa Monica College. There is a large number of radio programmes available online concerning Hollywood movies and interviews with filmmakers.

Item 11: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. (2012) Directed by Christopher Nolan. [DVD].
Los Angeles: Warner Brothers Inc. Bonus Feature 'The Journey of Bruce Wayne' with director Christopher Nolan, writer Jonathan Nolan and co-writer David S.Goyer

- Explores the process of recreating the superhero Batman as a more human character

Internet Resources:

Item 12: The IMDb profile of Christopher Nolan.  Available at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/

- It shows a list of film he directed and wrote including casting and other information. Served as a primary source in recognising his trademarks.

Item 13: www.lovepomo.blogspot.co.uk
- My own blog on postmodernism involving contemporary movies, music, paintings and other art forms. It is also connected to a Facebook page where I received many comments by fans and opposed audience.

Images:

Item 14: The poster of Inception and The Dark Knight compared to each other.

from: http://brandonsneed.com/home/tag/dark-knight

Item 15: The DVD cover of Inception

from: http://www.coverdude.com/dvd-covers/22543-inception-2010-ws-r1.html

Item 16: The DVD cover of Memento

from: http://www.karlf.com/My%20Pictures/DVD%20Covers/imagepages/image135.htm

Item 17: The DVD cover of The Dark Knight Rises

from:http://mike1306.deviantart.com/art/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-DVD-Cover-A-Fire-Will-Rise-303578915

Item 18: Marion Cotillard

from:

http://cinema-fanatic.com/2010/07/17/3-contenders-shutter-island-toy-story-3-and-inception/

Item 19: Anne Hathaway

from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/12/anne-hathaway-dark-knight-rises

Item 20: Carrie-Anne Moss

from: http://joycestake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/happy-birthday-carrie-ann-moss.html

Item 21: urban setting of Inception

from: http://www.uber-facts.com/2012/11/inception-is-actually-a-reality/

Item 22: drawing of Bane

from: http://sergio-quijada.deviantart.com/art/Bane-277451472

Item 23: Man of Steel poster

from: http://www.travelonshoestring.com/2012/07/man-of-steel-2013.html

Unused items

A.) http://www.mylearnedfriends.com/2012/07/the-brilliance-of-dark-knight_26.html
A fan review (dated July 2012) on Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Batman

- The review contains quite a lot of factual information, but it isn’t objective enough for my research.

B.) Film Studies For Free. ‘Christopher Nolan Studies’ edited on 21 July 2010
(accessed 29/09/12)  
Available at: http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=christopher+nolan

- There is little stated on the blog itself about Christopher Nolan and his work, however, there is a number of links that I have found useful, because they led me to other sites.

C.) NEWMAN, K. (2005). Cape Fear. Sight and Sound. 15(7,July), page 18-21. - Explores the influences of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy (back to the origins such as Frank Miller’s graphic novel Batman - Year One). There is little analysis of cinematic features and more on the development of the story and characters.